Andrew Jordan has admitted that the Pirtek Racing team face a difficult weekend at Knockhill, scene for rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the 2013 British Touring Car Championship.
Having secured his third victory of the season last time out at Snetterton, Jordan finds himself within 9 points of Championship leader and fellow Honda driver Matt Neal.
Chasing the 2012 Independents’ Champion hard is reining Champion Gordon Shedden, Colin Turkington in the eBay Motors BMW 125i and Jason Plato in the MG.
Jordan’s task at Knockhill is made harder due to the fact that he has a six place grid penalty for the opening race of the weekend – having recieved a third penalty for on track incidents at Snetterton.
Carrying 36 kilos of ballast into qualifying and the opening race as well, Jordan admits that a good qualifying session is needed to ensure that the six place grid penalty doesn’t drop him too far down the order.
“We need to qualify as high as possible as I really want to start in the top 10 for the first race,” said Jordan. “However, the weight will hurt us in qualifying. We clearly need to make progress from where we start, given the grid penalty.
“The racing at Knockhill is always close and if we could get three top six finishes that would be a great result. I need to get some good points, but stay out of trouble as well. Plus, the weather is often another factor at Knockhill.”
In the Independents’ Trophy, Jordan leads the way by 34 Points while the team hold third in the HiQ Teams’ Championship and a healthy 39 point advantage in the Independent Teams’ Championship.
Jordan’s team-mate Jeff Smith holds 9th overall in the drivers’ Championship and joint fourth in the Independents’.